You can skip ads on Spotify, if you’re in Australia

CIO Bulletin

August 11, 2018

Spotify is trying out something new in its digital marketing strategy that others would not dare to. It will be allowing its free users to skip ads. This feature will be applicable to both audio and video ads featured on Spotify. Spotify thinks that customers using the app will only skip ads that do not cater to their particular needs and that customers are bound to not skip ads if they are actually interested. This will give the app feedback on what kind of ads would better suit them on the feed.

Right now the feature is being tested only for Spotify’s customers in Australia. Advertisers featuring their ads on Spotify won’t have to pay for the skipped ads. Spotify is only testing this ad-skipping feature on a trial basis. Some people who already subscribed to the service may feel cheated by the introduction of the new feature, as the main reason behind the subscription fee is that they can skip the ads.

Spotify’s Global Head of Partner Solutions Danielle Lee said to AdAge “Our hypothesis is if we can use this to fuel our streaming intelligence, and deliver a more personalized experience and a more engaging audience to our advertisers, it will improve the outcomes that we can deliver for brands”.